While the technology has been developed to provide the capability of storing medical records electronically, the use and implementation of electronic medical records has not developed significantly beyond the traditional physician-controlled medical record system based on paper medical records.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,713 to Coli et al. discloses a network-based system and method for ordering and reporting the cumulative results of medical tests. The system includes a computer operated at a physician location (such as a hospital or physician office) to order tests, retrieve and store statistical data or status the progress of previously ordered tests, and at least one lab site computer for receiving physician requests for tests and reporting their results. The physician computer and lab site computer are interconnected by a computer network. The physician computer receives a physician or user request for ordering a test, causes a test request message to be sent to the lab site computer, causes a request for statistical data to be sent to the network, and receives statistical data from the network. The lab site computer is programmed to receive a test request message and to cause a test results message or a test status message to be sent to the physician computer. The system also includes a patient database computer which generates longitudinal medical reports, and performs test ordering functions, real time results reporting, and intelligent physician alerting and decision support functions, as appropriate in response to requests from other computers in the system. No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,389 to Clark et al discloses a patient medical record system that includes a number of caregiver computers, and a patient record database with patient data coupled to the caregiver computers for selectively providing access to the patient data from one of the caregiver computers responsive to a predetermined set of access rules. The predetermined set of rules includes a rule that access to a predetermined portion of the patient data by a first caregiver must be terminated before access to the same predetermined portion by a second caregiver is allowed. No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,074 to Evans discloses a medical records system that creates and maintains all patient data electronically. The system captures patient data, such as patient complaints, lab orders, medications, diagnoses, and procedures, at its source at the time of entry using a graphical user interface having touch screens. Using pen-based portable computers with wireless connections to a computer network, authorized healthcare providers can access, analyze, update and electronically annotate patient data even while other providers are using the same patient record. The system likewise permits instant, sophisticated analysis of patient data to identify relationships among the data considered. Moreover, the system includes the capability to access reference databases for consultation regarding allergies, medication interactions and practice guidelines. The system also includes the capability to incorporate legacy data, such as paper files and mainframe data, for a patient. No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,585 to Lavin et al. discloses a system and method for managing patient medical information to facilitate data management and improve physician access to and recordal of examination data is described. The method comprises a computer aided process including the steps of scheduling appointments, entering and displaying data to a physician, updating the patient data with progress notes concurrently with an examination, displaying allergy warnings and recording a diagnosis based on the progress notes. A common graphic user interface is also disclosed to facilitate operation of the preferred system and method. The system and method are implemented with a relational database operating on data tables which store information input into the user interface. No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,253 to Rensimer et al. discloses system and method for processing patient data permits physicians and other medical staff personnel to record, accurately and precisely, historical patient care information. An objective measure of a physician's rendered level of care, as described by a clinical status code, is automatically generated. Data elements used in the determination of the generated clinical status code include a level of history of the patient, a level of examination of the patient, a decision-making process of the physician treating the patient, and a “time influence factor.” The quantity and quality of care information for a particular patient is enhanced allowing future care decisions for that patient to be based on a more complete medical history. Enhanced care information can be used in outcome studies to track the efficacy of specific treatment protocols. Archiving of patient information is done in a manner which allows reconstruction of the qualitative aspects of provided medical services. The medical care data can be recorded, saved, and transferred from a portable system to a larger stationary information or database system. No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,821 to Ballantyne et al. discloses a method and apparatus used for the distribution and administration of medical services, entertainment services, electronic medical records, educational information, etc. to a patient's individual electronic patient care station (PCS) interconnected to a master library (ML) which stores data in digital compressed format, through a local medical information network. The patient/medical personnel interact with this medical information network through the unique PCS and receives the requested service or data from the master library. The data is then displayed either on the associated television set or video monitor or through wireless/IR communications to a peripheral personal data assistant (pen based computer technology) The data for text, audio, and video information is all compressed digitally to facilitate distribution and only decompressed at the final stage before viewing/interaction. Column 9 discloses patient access to “clinical data that the patient has been allowed access”, but not access to their entire medical record. No patient control of medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,129 to Spurgeon discloses an information-exchange system for controlling the exchange of business and clinical information between an insurer and multiple health care providers. The system includes an information-exchange computer that is connected over a local area network to an insurer computer using a proprietary database and over the Internet to health-care provider computers using open database-compliant databases. The information-exchange computer receives subscriber insurance data from the insurance computer database, translates the insurance data into an exchange database, and pushes the subscriber insurance data out over the Internet to the computer operated by the health-care provider assigned to each subscriber. The information-exchange system stores the data in the provider database. The information-exchange system also provides for the preparation, submission, processing, and payment of claims over the local area network and with push technology over the Internet. In addition, prior authorization requests may be initiated in the provider computers and exchanged over the information-exchange system for review by the insurer computer. Processed reviews are transmitted back to the provider computer and to a specialist computer, if required, using push technology over the Internet. No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,109 to Johnson et al. discloses a central medical record repository for a managed health care organization that accepts and stores medical record documents in any format from medical service providers. The repository then identifies the document using information automatically extracted from the document and stores the extracted data in a document database. The repository links the document to a patient by extracting from the document demographic data identifying the patient and matching it to data stored in a patient database. Data is extracted automatically from medical records containing “unstructured” or free-form text by identifying conventional organization components in the text and is organized by executing rules that extract data with the aid of such information. Documents for a patient are retrieved by identifying the patient using demographic data. No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,294 to Keene discloses a system for confidentially reporting medical test results to partners of patients. No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,282 to Wolf et al. discloses a document verification and tracking system useful for prescription authorization (see FIGS. 3–4). No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,580 to Seliger et al. discloses a method for coordinating updates to medical database in a medical information system that permits concurrent charting from different workstations and medical instruments. A first data value for a record is entered at a first workstation and a second data value for the record is entered at a second workstation without locking either workstation during data entry. The new data values are stored in the medical database after completion of data entry at each workstation, and a correction history is recorded. The correction history contains information as to the update of the record with the first data value and the second data value. The record is updated with the first and second data values without aborting user activities or notifying a user that an update conflict has occurred. After the new data values are stored in the medical database, all workstations containing a copy of the record are updated to reflect the current state of the record. No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,085 to de la Huerga discloses a system utilizing a personal identification badge to collect data and to provide access to a computer terminal. The personal identification badge includes circuitry and transceiver components for transmitting identification information and exchanging other digital information with a computer terminal and other compatible devices. The personal identification badge establishes a wireless communication link with a computer terminal to allow a user to logon to the terminal. When a user leaves the computer terminal, the communication link is terminated, causing the computer terminal to lock the keyboard, blank the monitor, and/or logoff the user if the communication link is not restored within a sufficient time period. The personal identification badge includes means for encrypting and signing digital information. Adapted for use within a hospital, the system provides further means for establishing an affiliation between a personal identification badge and a patient, for collecting digital information from electronic devices that record or gather data regarding the status of a patient, for digitizing and recording dictation spoken into the personal identification badge, and for modifying the digital information so collected to conform to standards, such as those of a Java applet or the hypertext markup language, for interactive display on a universal display browser. No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,225 to Supernaw-Issen et al. discloses an object oriented patient record 464. No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,804 to Yu et al. discloses biometric authorization as a substitute for passwords for medical transactions such as emergency access to medical records (see column 2, lines 40–48). No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,737,539 to Edelson et al. discloses an electronic prescription creation system for use by professional prescribers at the point of care has a prescription division subsystem permitting creation of a single prescription to be automatically divided into two components for fulfilment of one portion quickly and locally at higher cost and of another portion by remote mail order taking more time but providing a cost saving for a major part of the prescription. The prescription creation system has an ability to access remote source databases for system presentation to the prescriber of relevant, authorized and current drug, drug formulary and patient history information, with dynamic creation of a transient virtual patient record, the information being presented to the prescriber before completion of the prescription, permitting enhancement of the quality of prescribing decisions. No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,828 to Leet discloses a computer implemented method and system for improving drug treatment of patients in local communities by providing drug treatment protocols for particular disease states, such as Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) classifications. The protocol contains ranked recommendations for drug treatments of the disease state, and the computer system collects information about the risks and benefits of the drug treatments. The information collected about the treatments is used to modify the rankings of the drug treatments in the protocol. In one specific embodiment of the system, where the disease state has a microbial etiology and the treatments are antimicrobial drugs, the emergence of drug resistance is quickly detected by determining the percentage of microbial isolates that are found to be resistant to antimicrobial therapy in the community where the therapy is being provided (such as a community hospital or city-wide health care system). An increase in the percentage of resistant isolates produces a re-ranking of recommended drug therapies to avoid further use of the drug to which resistance has developed, and helps quickly introduce more effective drugs that will improve the effectiveness and lower the cost of treatment. In yet other embodiments, a sum of medication (e.g. dosing) errors and adverse effects (e.g. allergic reactions) are tracked by the system to identify drugs that are poorly tolerated in particular populations served by the hospital where the treatment is being provided. Data is collected about the safety and effectiveness of all types of drug therapies in the community being served, and this data is used to modify the drug protocols. No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,948 to Ross, Jr. et al. discloses a system that provides: automatic incorporation of dictated text; medical records summary generation in medical English text; parsing dictation to data; prephrased text; automatic generation of medical record as consequence of data entry; automatic notation of allergies, significant medical conditions and pregnancy; pregnancy linking, automatically; security card—close on pull; multi-look grease board; outstanding orders listing for all patients in the department; department layout; room selection excludes occupied rooms; nurses notes to text; nurses notes from physician orders to nurses; lab request screen shows all previously ordered labs; therapeutics; ACLS recording; lacerations; doctor specific prescriptions and medication orders; review of systems; coding level alerts; differential diagnosis—filter to sex and age; diagnosis—fractures to text; doctor interval reexamination; patient instructions predicated on what was done; patient instruction video on demand; patient informed consent video on demand; video teleconferencing; electronic signatures; automatic backup and incremental backup with system on-line; critical management reports; and automatic research data extraction. No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,441 to Gombrich discloses a handheld terminal with a scanner that is useful in a hospital environment for medical record keeping. No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,716 to Gombrich et al. discloses a patient identification system for relating items with patients and ensuring that an identified item corresponds to an identified patient. The patient identification system includes a computer system interconnected to a plurality of remote terminals by conventional telephone wiring. The patient identification system further including a portable bar code reading device including a bar code wand, an LCD display and a key pad. The portable bar code reading device communicates via RF transmission with an RF/PLC modem. The bar code reading device is utilized to read a patient's unique bar codes on a patient's identification bracelet, bar codes on labels attached to various items in the hospital relating the item to a specific patient and bar codes on item labels whereby such items can be automatically correlated to a specific patient and checks performed at the computer system to ensure that the item properly corresponds to the identified patient. No patient access to or control of their medical records is disclosed.
The primary difference between prior art medical information systems and the present invention is the ability of the patient to access and control their medical data. Additionally, by implementing the system on the Internet, remote access is provided anywhere with Internet access and no specialized software other than a browser client is required by patients and medical providers. Medical providers can include pharmacies, medical laboratories, doctors, hospitals, and nurses.
As the Information Age has allowed more and more personal data to be collected, stored, used, and often even sold, privacy concerns of patients have assumed more importance. Many of the prior art electronic medical record systems have included mechanisms to provide some amount of privacy for patients by limiting access to medical records to authorized medical personnel, but have not allowed patients to decide which medical personnel will be authorized.